Artists and Business in Brazil Unite to Help Favela Mothers

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A real task force between artists and companies is being set up to help mothers living in favelas. Designed by ‘Central Única de Favelas’ (Unified Favela Center – CUFA), an organization that operates in over 400 favela communities, the project ‘Mães da Favela’ (Mothers of the Favela) offers two months of grants of R$120 to women in favelas. More than 80,000 mothers have already benefited.

To raise funds, several artists are contributing with their images. On Sunday, Mother’s Day, a videoclip to honor favela mothers was launched on Rede Globo’s Fantástico program. Directed by Celso Athayde, founder of CUFA, with musical production by Dudu Nobre and composed by Nega Gizza, the piece featured Ivete Sangalo, Negra Li, Claudia Leite, Daniela Mercury, Karol Conka, Elza Soares, and Fernanda Abreu, among other artists.

Also on Sunday, musical live streams were planned to encourage donations. At 1 PM, samba player Zeca Pagodinho was on his YouTube channel and at 4:30 PM, it was Anitta’s turn, also on YouTube. They join other musicians and actors who have already performed online events in support of the project, such as Pericles, MC Guimê, MC Dede, Kevinho, Lexa, Dani Russo, Luan Santana and Taís Araújo.

On another front, digital influencers are auctioning packages of posts on their feeds, and the amount collected will be donated to the project. Sabrina Sato, Fernanda Mota, Ceará, Mônica Salgado, Lorena Queiroz, Luiza Possi, Andrea Guimarães, Jão, Dalton Rangel, Julinho Casares and Justim Neto are part of the initiative.

‘Mães da Favela’ has so far raised over R$10 million for the monthly grants, with R$4.6 million already delivered. In addition to the cash amount, the initiative distributes basic food baskets and other products, such as bottled gas, to families in favelas. There were 6,443 tons of food delivered in 5,000 favelas, benefiting 496,000 families and 1.9 million people. In all, the project raised over R$60 million in donations.

More than 130 companies, from different business segments, have joined the artists who support the initiative. Among them, large companies like Ambev, Natura, Facebook, Uber, 99, BTG Pactual (which is part of the group that controls Exame) and Unilever; and even soccer clubs like São Paulo Futebol Clube.

The Brazilian favelas are home to over 13 million people. According to a survey conducted by the Locomotiva Institute, there are 5.2 million mothers in the communities, who have, on average, 2.7 children. Seven out of ten women say that the closure of schools, which forces their children to stay home, hinders work and income generation. In relation to work, 37 percent of mothers are self-employed, 15 percent have jobs with a signed worker’s record book, while 10 percent do not. Housewives total 14 percent.

For 84 percent of mothers in the periphery, the coronavirus crisis has reduced the turnover or sales of businesses or companies in which they work. For 80 percent, family income is now down and 85 percent say that payment of bills will be compromised. Over 70 percent of mothers report that the family’s diet will be affected by the loss of income.

Source: Exame